This morning, FBI Spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap of the FBI's Houston field office told me FBI Headquarters is now handling the Continental Flight 1544 incident. That would be the incident involving the pilot's report of a rocket-like object nearly missing the aircraft as it departed from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Memorial Day.

Passengers on the plane also saw the rocket, and the rocket's trail. 

The FAA said, "We think it might be someone doing model rocketing." But this theory is apparently not passing the smell test. FBI headquarters has now taken over press requests.

Doug Hagmann, the director of Northeast Intelligence Network, interviewed one of the passengers on the plane who told him that "it was definitely no model rocket." 

The Houston Chronicle is running a front page article reporting that "no hobby clubs had requested or been granted clearance to launch high-powered model rockets on Memorial Day when a Continental Airlines pilot reported seeing such an object zoom past his cockpit window."   

FBI investigating pilot's report of possible model rocket near Houston airport

The Associated Press (Tuesday, May 27, 2008)

HOUSTON — The FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration said they are investigating a report from a Continental Airlines pilot, who told air-traffic controllers that a possible model rocket with a flaming tail and a trail of smoke was flying ahead of the plane shortly after takeoff Monday.

Although the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation, officials said they believe the object was a model rocket.

"We don't know for sure what the object was. But we think it might be somebody doing model rocketing," FAA spokesman Roland Herwig told the Houston Chronicle on Monday. "The pilot saw the rocket and some people saw the rocket's trail."

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